Pioneer Valley Businesses Close Monday to Support Workers And Immigrants

Haymarket Cafe in Northampton, which is closing for part of May 1, 2017, to support workers and immigrants.

Jim Kinney
/ The Republican

The first day of May — May Day — is also known as International Workers Day. In honor of it, roughly 20 businesses and organizations in the Pioneer Valley are closing their doors for the day.

It's part of a nationwide effort, and immigrants are a key part of the focus.

"This year, we have a re-commitment to stand with immigrant communities that are being attacked and experiencing state violence from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, workers who are experiencing higher levels of exploitation with wage theft," said Rose Bookbinder, an organizer with the Pioneer Valley Workers Center. "So we are recommitting, not only here in western Mass. but nationally, to resist and stand against Trump's agenda."

Organizers are leading a march from outside the headquarters of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in downtown Springfield to City Hall. They're calling on the City Council to declare Springfield a "sanctuary city."

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Earlier this week, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump's executive order to withhold funding from so-called sanctuary cities. These cities, including some in our region, have explicitly said they won't comply with requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold detainees.

At the same time, some local prisons are holding inmates on behalf of ICE, including the Franklin County House of Correction in Greenfield, Massachusetts.